Taking It Slow (Code of Honor Book 4)

by Reese Knightley

  “Fury has been located,” Oliver called out.

  River’s camera swung around to show three black figures coming out of the line of trees along with Oliver, Blade, and Dillon. The camera cut away and Liam eased his clenched fists.

  “Who’s that?” Spencer asked from somewhere off screen.

  “Um…” Oliver stepped back into the monitor’s line of sight and Spencer followed.

  He was filthy, covered in sweat, and his face held lines of dark camouflage grease, but he was the most beautiful thing Liam had ever seen.

  “Is that the colonel?”

  Oliver nodded and when Spencer held out his hand, Oliver plucked his earpiece out and handed it over.

  “Colonel?” Spencer rasped, stepping into view of the camera attached to the Infinity vehicle.

  “Captain,” he responded, his gaze locked on Spencer. It took some effort, but Liam managed to hold back every expression from his face as the whole room turned to look at him.

  “Thanks for the backup.”

  “Speak for yourself!” Lincoln Beckett snapped, coming to stand by Spencer and glaring into the screen. Beckett was a fucking rebel, but the man was downright lethal and Liam had personally hand-picked the guy for Fury, just as he had Spencer and Eagle.

  “We really need to work on our communication.” Spencer squinted at the screen and Liam felt pinned by the man’s expressive blue eyes.

  Infinity broke out in laughter.

  “You all suck,” Link snarled and stomped away.

  Liam grunted. “Report back to base,” he said and yanked his headset off.

  “Carry on,” he told the room and turned to stride out of the area. He snapped the door closed when he stepped out into the hallway.

  Once there, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to ten.

  That ops hadn’t even been a close one and it wasn’t that Fury and Infinity didn’t do this shit every time they went out, but this time had been different.

  Fuck. Not only was Bowman still on the loose, but Liam had another very real problem.

  He still had it bad for Spencer Turner, very, very bad, and he wondered how the hell he was going to keep his feelings on a friend-only level.

  Spencer

  He grinned and handed Oliver’s earpiece back. Liam’s rough and commanding voice still rang in his ears. He could have stood and listened to the colonel give him orders all fucking day long.

  “This blows,” Link snarled again from where he stood next to him and Eagle.

  “They were sent to help,” he reprimanded Link.

  “No, not Infinity. That fucking Bowman flew the coop.” Link yanked off his ball cap, ran his fingers through his longish hair to comb it off his forehead, and replaced the hat.

  Spencer turned and headed across the parking lot.

  “We’ll get him,” Eagle responded, following him.

  “The colonel a friend of yours?” Link asked, coming to stride next to him.

  Spencer thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, he is.”

  “Well, that’s good to know,” Eagle chimed in.

  “Why?” He frowned at Eagle.

  “Just nice to have friends in high places is all.” Eagle grinned.

  Link snorted and stomped ahead of them. “Why the hell was he having Major Samson giving us orders then?”

  “I don’t know,” Spencer lied. He knew damned well why Liam had Major Samson give orders to Fury. It had to do with his refusal to report to him. Which now sounded silly as all fuck. Spencer felt guilty as hell about it.

  “Well, at least we know who our real boss is,” Eagle shouted after Link.

  “I liked Major Samson!” Link shouted back and flipped them off.

  Eagle laughed loudly. That seemed to piss Link off even more and before long, the soldier was gone.

  It wasn’t like any of them had a say in who they reported to. The Army wasn’t a fucking corporate job where a person got to pick their coworkers or take time off when their itty-bitty feelings were hurt.

  He wasn’t sure about having Liam for a boss when he was so attracted to the man. There, he admitted it to himself. Even though their lifestyles made it impossible to be together, the sexual awareness was off the fucking charts. He knew Liam felt it too.

  Not only that, but Liam was comfortable to be around and Spencer realized he had more in common with Liam than he’d first thought. They’d clicked last weekend. Which was odd since they were from two completely different worlds.

  When they landed back at base, he didn’t even hit the showers before he was out the door and fighting the Friday evening traffic to Torrance.

  Pulling up in front of the house, Will Mayer was standing on the front walkway. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that the CPS agent was just doing his job.

  He got out of the truck and left the door open and strode toward the man.

  “Mayer. Thought you were going to email me.”

  “Turner.”

  He stared at the partially open front door behind Mayer and then turned his full attention on the man.

  “I do my welfare checks when I want. You know how this works.”

  Yeah, he fucking knew. “Find anything?”

  Mayer flicked a finger at the door. “It’s not a pretty situation in there.”

  Fuck. His mother hadn’t heeded his warning.

  “Neither was the place you put him in,” he finally growled.

  Quick and hot anger filled the agent’s gaze, but Spencer didn’t give a fuck.

  “You show up here, to what? Threaten my family and think you’re going to change things?”

  He moved closer, but Mayer didn’t back up. In fact, the guy came closer, invading his space.

  “What happened to Wesley is on her.” Mayer jerked his head to the house. “Not me.”

  He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Mayer was fucking dead on and it didn’t make it any easier to swallow, but the fucker was only making it worse.

  “I’m reporting her for substance abuse. She’s got prescription pills sitting on the kitchen table.”

  “I’ll talk to her. Just don’t report it yet, please.” His brain went over a hundred different situations of how to fucking make this work and take care of Wesley at the same time.

  “I have to think of the boy,” Mayer drawled.

  “This isn’t thinking of Wesley. You know what it will do to him.”

  “Well, I suspect you have a choice to make then, don’t you?” Mayer eyed him.

  Spencer knew the drill. He slid out his wallet and took out several bills.

  Mayer gripped the cash and counted it while Spencer held his breath.

  Mayer frowned at the money. “Where’s the rest of it?”

  “I won’t have it till next Friday, payday.”

  “You’ve got until next Friday, then.”

  “You’ll get it.” Spencer clenched his teeth.

  “I’d better because like I said, I have to think of Wesley.” Mayer snapped.

  “Yeah. Of course, you do,” he said bitterly, sneering at the cash in Mayer’s hand.

  The man’s nostrils flared. “One week.”

  Mayer shoulder checked him on his way off the porch. It was all he could do not to go after the guy. Mayer seemed to make it his goal in life to be a dick and make shit way harder for people than it needed to be. Of course, he wasn’t helping matters by paying the guy off, but sometimes life was ugly and people did ugly shit to protect the ones they loved.

  With a heavy sigh, he turned, but before he could reach the house, Wesley came barreling out of the door with his duffle bag in his hands. Seeing him, Wesley leaped off the porch and jogged across the distance.

  “Wesley! You get back here!” his mother screeched, slamming out the broken screen door. She stood in the same dirty house dress and filthy slippers that had once been pink.

  Wesley ignored her and came right to him.

  “Hey.” Spencer reached ou
t and pulled his brother into his arms. Wesley was shaking and Spencer squeezed him tightly for a few moments.

  Mayer, having reached his car, gave him a scathing look before he got in and drove away.

  “I’ll be right back,” he murmured and gently pushed Wesley toward his truck. When his brother was safely inside, he turned toward his mother.

  She saw him coming and backed up. She should. Not that he’d hit her, but she fucking deserved it.

  “Are you trying to get him taken away?” he growled through a haze of red.

  “No, of course not.” She sniffed. “He didn’t do the dishes.”

  “The fucking dishes?” Here he was fighting to keep Wesley out of foster care and she was worried about her fucking dirty dishes? “He’s not your fucking servant. Do your own god damned dishes, because I know my brother and he cleans up after himself every damned time.”

  She scooted a bit back from his menacing tone.

  “Well,” she rubbed at her mouth, “you got any money?”

  “No. I just gave what I had to Mayer to keep him off my fucking back.”

  “Good for nothing!” she hissed.

  “I’m going to ask you this once and only once. Have you been verbally abusing Wes?”

  She swallowed. “No.”

  “You better not be lying,” he said through his teeth.

  “What the hell are you going to do about it if I am?”

  “I’ll fucking quit the military if I have to,” he fired back.

  She scowled. He could see her calculate how much that would cost her financially if he took Wesley and didn’t pick up her slack.

  “I haven’t done anything to the little piss ant. He stays in his room all day unless he’s at school.”

  “And food?”

  “He gets enough.”

  “You better make sure he gets more than enough. I fucking swear to god, if you don’t take care of him, I’ll make your life hell on earth. You think you have it bad now? Just wait.”

  She cringed visibly. “Yeah, yeah. Go on with your nasty self. Good for nothin’. Ain’t got no money,” she sneered.

  “Clean the pills off the kitchen table or I will,” he warned her.

  She said nothing and marched into the house, slamming the door.

  Fuck. He closed his eyes, then shook himself and turned. Mustering a smile, he headed back to the truck and slipped inside. The door groaned and creaked as he pulled it closed.

  “Are you okay?” He glanced at his brother.

  “Y-y-yeah, bro, I-I’m good,” Wesley stuttered, hands squeezing into fists.

  The stutter didn’t surprise him under the circumstances. While his brother had grown out of stuttering at the age of eight, it sometimes appeared when Wesley was under extreme stress. Spencer turned in his seat and kept his voice calm.

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said softly and gripped his brother’s shoulder.

  “How are you going to stop it?”

  “I’ve stopped it so far, Wes. I won’t ever let anything happen to you again.”

  He loved the military so fucking much, but he loved his little brother more. If quitting for family reasons was what it took to keep Wesley safe, then he’d do it. Paying off Mayer when the guy suggested it had been a big fucking mistake.

  “Okay,” his brother gulped.

  Spencer grew more concerned when tears started in Wesley’s eyes.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I-I-I have a favor.”

  “What’s that?” His eyebrows rose. This was new.

  “Adam and Jessica want me to come over to Liam’s and swim. If that’s okay with you. Please don’t say no.”

  Say no? Seeing Adam and Jessica was important to Wesley, so Spencer was going to make damned sure he got his visit. He cupped the back of Wesley’s neck and gave a reassuring squeeze.

  “I’m okay with that, but did you do all your assignments?”

  Wesley nodded and dug through his backpack to hand him the make-up assignment sheet. This caught his little brother up for the week he’d missed school.

  “Good job.”

  His brother flushed beneath his praise.

  “I don’t think Liam is home yet, though,” he said, turning the key in the ignition.

  “Oh.” Wesley’s face was crestfallen as he tucked the paper away.

  “Hang on, I’ll call the base.”

  “Wait! I have his cell number, we can call him from my phone,” Wesley said excitedly.

  Spencer smirked. It was just like Liam to give Wesley his cell number. He’d bet money that Liam told his brother to call him if he needed anything.

  “You get him on the phone and I’ll drive,” he said, pulling out of the driveway and heading toward his apartment.

  “Wesley? Is everything okay?” Liam’s voice came warm and concerned over the speaker.

  “Yes! I have you on speaker. I’m here with Spencer. Adam and Jessica texted me this morning and asked if I could come over. Since it’s Friday, I was wondering if that would be okay?” Wesley ended on a rush.

  Spencer found himself holding his breath and praying like never before that Liam wouldn’t disappoint his brother.

  “Of course. I told you to call me. Both of you are welcome. Bring your pjs and we’ll make a night of it. Hell, we can make a weekend of it.”

  “Hell yeah!” Wesley pumped his fist and Spencer chuckled.

  “You don’t know what you’re in for,” Spencer warned Liam.

  The man’s deep chuckle came over the phone, sending a quick shiver down his spine.

  “I can’t wait,” Liam’s smiling voice filled the speaker. “I’ll order Chinese food. See you both when you get here.”

  Wesley flipped the phone closed when Liam hung up and gazed at him.

  “What?” he asked, smiling when he pulled up outside of his apartment.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Now, let’s grab some stuff.”

  Wesley jumped out of the truck and Spencer followed at a slower pace, trying to get the fucking door closed.

  “Still giving you fits?”

  Spencer glanced up and grinned. “When did you get back?”

  “A few hours ago,” Dillon said and reached a hand out to shove the truck door closed with a crack.

  “Easy now, don’t break Tank,” he joked and turned, gripping Dillon’s hand in a hard grip.

  Dillon did one better and pulled him in. The guy was about his height with shorn dark hair and blue eyes.

  “Tank is on his last leg,” Dillon noted and grabbed up a duffle bag from his car before following him up the walkway.

  “Yeah.”

  “You can use my car if you need to. I’m headed out of town.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yup. Where are you headed?”

  “Liam’s place,” he said and stepped through the open door.

  “Really?” Dillon shoved the door closed and tossed his duffle.

  “Yes, really, and it’s not like that. We’re friends.”

  Dillon smirked with a curl of his nose and lip.

  Spencer squinted. “I’m serious.”

  “If you say so. Have fun.”

  “Thanks.”

  Dillon nodded and disappeared down the hall.

  Making his way into his bedroom, Spencer shoved clothes and shoes into his duffle and turned off the light.

  In the hallway, Wesley was waiting.

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah.” He smiled at his exuberant baby brother. “Let’s go.”

  Tossing their stuff in the bed of the truck, he started Tank with a bang and a groan. Wesley fiddled with the radio that was more of a crackle than actual music. Pulling out of the driveway, he drove toward the main road.

  He didn’t know if it was a good idea to hang out with Liam, but hell if he could or even wanted to keep his distance.

  That episode last weekend on the front steps, as small as it had been, kept runni
ng on repeat in his mind. What if he hadn’t stepped away? Would Liam have kissed him or was that wishful thinking? Did he want that even though it might jeopardize their budding friendship?

  Spencer squeezed the steering wheel with sweating hands. Friends, we’re just friends.

  Now, if he could keep his mind on Liam’s big heart and off his sexy body, he’d be okay, he told himself as he took the onramp to the freeway and started the long drive to Liam’s house.

  Liam

  “Afternoon, Mr. Cobalt,” Jason Lark, the front entrance guard, called out as he drove through the gate.

  “Afternoon, Jay,” Liam said with a wave.

  He was still wearing the grin from the unexpected phone call. His gut tightened with the anticipation of seeing Spencer again. He hadn’t known that Adam and Jessica had called Wesley, but he was fiercely glad they had.

  His hands squeezed the wheel. Last Sunday, he’d seen Wesley and Adam talking quietly. Adam had found him the next day and shared a bit about how worried he was.

  “Worried, why’s that?” Liam drew his young cousin over to sit at the kitchen breakfast bar. That was when Adam had spilled about the mother’s drug use, the boyfriend stinking of drink and weed, how Wesley barely had enough to eat, and that Spencer was paying for everything.

  Liam had been so shocked, he couldn’t speak. That was also when Adam had sworn him to secrecy.

  “Please, Uncle Liam, you can’t tell anyone. Promise,” Adam said, looking so worried.

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Anything to get Wesley away from the conditions of the house and also the chance to see Spencer was a win-win in his book.

  He eased his large truck down the small street, noticing Rick’s car in the driveway next door. Perhaps, he had the day off from work. A black SUV was pulled up beside Rick’s car. The dark color and windows made it stick out like a sore thumb.

  That’s weird. He frowned. He didn’t recognize the SUV belonging to anyone he or Rick, for that matter, knew.

  He pulled his truck all the way to the end of his circular driveway to make room for Spencer when he got there.

  Shoving the key into the door, he entered and tossed them on the small side table.